Fried chicken terribly costly for Mercedes lady

PHUKET TOWN: A woman who parked her car briefly on Friday found herself half a million baht poorer when she got back behind the wheel. Pol Capt Anukul Nookate of Phuket Town Police Station said Lynchee Somsak, 42, stopped her car on Luang Por Wat Chalong Rd to buy fried chicken. She told the police that, because the chicken vendor was only a couple of meters from where she had parked, she left her Mercedes unlocked, with the engine running and her handbag, containing jewelry worth 500,000 baht, on the back seat. While she was buying the chicken, a man on a motorcycle stopped, opened the right rear door of the car, snatched the handbag and sped away. “She didn’t realize that her bag had been stolen until witnesses told her about it,” Capt Anukul told the Gazette. The witnesses were able to tell the police only that the thief was young; that he was wearing a cream shirt and cream shorts; and that he was riding a red Honda Dream. The police suspect that the bag snatcher knew about the jewelry in the handbag and had followed K. Lynchee for some distance with the aim of grabbing the bag from her arm. However, her snack-stop provided him with a much safer opportunity. The thief is still at large.